1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to means for opening smokeless tobacco containers, and more particularly, to a hand-held portable tool having a rotatable circular cutting means to slit the adhesive coated paper wrapper securing the lid to the outer side surface of the container.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
A smokeless tobacco container generally has paper side and bottom surfaces and includes a metallic lid having a dependent flange or rim that fits over the outer side surface of the container. An adhesive coated paper wrapper extends around the outer periphery of the side surface of the container and the rim of the lid to seal the container. Containers and lids made of plastic are also available but are configured, assembled, and sealed by paper wrappers as described above. Typically, a user of smokeless tobacco opens the container by inserting his thumbnail or the edge of a pocketknife through the paper wrapper seal at a point just below the rim of the lid. Using his other hand, he then rotates the container while fixing his thumbnail or pocketknife edge underneath the rim of the lid.
The use of the thumbnail as a cutting device not only requires long thumbnails, which are then susceptible to breakage, but also is a laborious means for opening the container. The use of a pocketknife is equally undesirable because of both the potential injury to the user from slippage of the knife from underneath the rim and the destruction of the smokeless tobacco container caused by the exertion of excessive radial pressure which induces a slit in the side of the container together with the paper wrapper.
The prior art has not provided an acceptable tool for this purpose. A hand tool designed to open watch cases is disclosed by Southworth U.S. Pat. No. 451,982. This tool embodies a circular plate having thin, beveled edges around the periphery thereof with a support means on either surface to ensure a firm grasping of the tool by its user. The tool is designed to pry open containers by inserting the edge of the tool in the groove between the lid and the body of the container. Successful operation of the tool requires that the container have firm sides to support the forces created while the user pries open the lid. Smokeless tobacco containers, however, are cylindrically shaped having paper or thin plastic side and bottom surfaces covered by a lid. The Southworth tool is unsuitable for opening containers of this type because it requires a container with sides sufficiently rigid to support a prying operation.
In addition, the Southworth tool requires a groove or predetermined course into which the tool is inserted and can follow. Opening a smokeless tobacco container, however, requires the use of a sharp edged tool to form a path around the periphery of the container.
A wall-mounted device used in an advertisement display by United States Tobacco Company provides a means for opening smokeless tobacco containers. This device includes an open ended cylinder which is anchored on a wall with the axis of the cylinder disposed perpendicular thereto. The smokeless tobacco container is inserted into the cylinder with the lid facing the wall. Around the periphery of the inner surface of the cylinder is an inwardly radially extending fluted cutting edge positioned to engage the side of the container below the rim of the lid. The user inserts the smokeless tobacco container into the device and exerts a force in the direction of the cutting edge while rotating the container about the inner periphery of the tool. This device suffers from the disadvantage of being nonportable in that it is both designed to be wall-mounted and necessarily has a diameter larger than the smokeless tobacco container itself. Furthermore, the tool has a relatively large exposed cutting edge, which if transported for on-site use, is susceptible to either the snagging of clothing or injuring the person attempting to use the device. In addition, the operation of opening the container requires an awkward distribution of forces for simultaneously rotating the container, urging the container laterally against the wall-mounted top of the device, and changing the direction of a radial force against the cutting edge along the periphery of the tool.
Neither of the means discussed hereinabove discloses a hand-held portable tool capable of directing a constant radial force at a predetermined depth from the top of the lid to accomplish opening the container while leaving the side surface intact. A primary object of this invention is, therefore, to accomplish this task by providing a lightweight, hand-held portable tool to open a smokeless tobacco container. The tool has means both to fix the position of a rotatable cutting edge below the rim of the lid and restrict the depth of the slit for an effective and predictable opening operation. The tool is of lightweight construction and sufficiently small to be carried on a key chain.
An important primary object of this invention is to provide a tool having grasping surfaces and a guide means to allow a sure-handed opening operation with a constant radial force applied to the container.
A further important object of this invention is to provide a tool whereby the smokeless tobacco container may be opened by rotating the container, the tool, or a combination of both.
Still another important object of this invention is to provide a portable tool having a cutting edge with a protective means to avert injury to the person transporting or using the tool.